Nokia N81 8GB Review: Part 2 Performance & Software Issues

In my first article regarding the N81 8GB, I talked about its hardware aspects and physical appearance. This post is dedicated to the N81 8GB’s performance and software attributes.

 

Getting started

Whenever you are supposed to deal with an Nseries handset, you know that it has been designed to be different from non-Nseries cell phones. In other words, a handset which belongs to the Nseries family should provide users with a set of features in order to convince potential buyers that it’s indeed worth purchasing. The same is true about the N81, even if it doesn’t offer some of the goodies of the N82 and the N95. Let’s see if it actually deserves the Nseries branding.

 

Vibra Boot

If you have an N95, N82 or an N73 with an updated firmware, you have noticed the short vibration effect as you hold the Power button down to switch on your handset. This is called Vibra Boot notification, and helps users feel confident about the health of their handset even before seeing the backlighting. The N81 8GB also offers Vibra Boot notification, but with a much more noticeable flavor. With the N81 8GB I have, Vibra Boot is both a bit louder and longer. I’m bold enough to claim that the best Nseries device which offers Vibra Boot notification is the N81.

 

Boot-up time

Personally speaking, I’ve never been concerned about how much time my handset requires to boot, but know that many of you are. As such, I compared the N81 8GB’s boot-up time with that of the N82. The comparison wasn’t quite fair because, on the one hand, the N82 has a good number of installed applications which are missing on the N81 and, on the other, the N81 must spend some time managing its internal 8GB memory which is just 2GB in the case of the N82. At any rate, my N81 8GB takes about 20 seconds to boot up, and my N82 takes about 14 seconds to do the same. So the N82 has the upper hand here.

 

The menu layout

Since the N81 8GB is an S60 FP1 device, you can’t find much of a difference between this handset and other FP1 devices when it comes to screen layout and software functionality. However, each device has its own peculiarities. For instance, while the N81 and the N82 offer the same applications on the Active Standby window, their menu layout can be modified differently. If you go to the main menu and press “key 1″, you’ll see that the N82 offers something called “Icon animation” which is missing in the N81. This is perhaps related to the extra graphic chip which is absent in the N81 8GB. On the other hand, the N81 8GB is more feature-rich when it comes to selecting a menu view. The N81 offers the following menu views, Grid, List, Horseshoe, and V-shaped, while the N82 offers Grid and List. A plus for the N81 here.

 

Camera performance

Alas, the N81 8GB offers a 2MP camera, and what do you expect from it? It works well with what it offers, but don’t expect its camera to compete with that of the N82 or the N95. As a gadgeteer, I think if Nokia had designed the N81 with a 3.2MP camera and had made it capable of recording video clips at 30 frames per second, it could have shocked the world of cell phones. At any rate, apart from the lack of the physical camera shutter, its camera makes use of an interface which is similar to that of high-end handsets such as the N82. For those who are into comparison, the following two pictures show the N81 8GB’s camera and you can compare it with the same picture taken via the N82’s camera: IMG: N81 picture quality vs. IMG: N82 picture quality.

 

Audio-centricity

I’ve always claimed that the N81 and its 8GB variant are audio-centric handsets, and I’m in a good position to prove my claim now. As the name suggests, the N81 8GB offers 8GB of internal storage capacity, meaning you can transfer your music to the device via the USB cable, and it’s not an easy task to beat this superfluous space. What’s more, the N81 8GB has dedicated music keys which can be used universally, no matter where you are and what you’re doing. Unlike the N95 8GB, the N81 8GB’s dedicated music keys are always accessible and don’t depend on the status of the sliding mechanism. They are also located near the front navigation buttons, thereby making multi-tasking far more easier as you need not move your hands away from those important buttons. On the N81 8GB, the music application starts as the handset boots up, and it doesn’t provide an Exit button. This is necessary for the maximum performance of the music keys, but if you want to close the music application, Handy Taskman does the job.

Above all, the N81 8GB comes with high-end speakers. In fact, its speakers can be found in none of the Nseries handsets. To prove this point, I took my old N73 out and played some tracks via the N73, the N81, the N82 and my friend’s N95 for five people who were not familiar with Nokia handsets, and all of them said that the N81 8GB offers the best speakers. Its speakers are louder than those of other Nseries handsets, without sacrificing a bit of the nice base effect. If, for instance, my N82 could offer the same speakers, I could call it the super-handset in the history of cell phones.

If you use the 3.5 mm audio jack and connect your headphones to the N81, the system sound gets immediately transferred to the headphones. This is not the case with the N82, because there you have to select a proper mode: headphones, music stand, or TV out. The instant availability of the headphone/music stand mode in the N81 is a huge plus, specially if you’re in a position which requires a quick switch to headphones. BTW, both handsets are equally feature-rich when you connect them to a wired or wireless headphone, as I did with my Nokia BH-604 and Bose noise-cancelling headphones. The N81 8GB places a relatively longer pause between two tracks with or without headphones, and this pause is about 1 second shorter with the N82.

Last but not least, the N81 8GB has a number of pre-loaded MP3 tracks to demonstrate the fact that it’s indeed a music-centric device. They can be found on the 8GB internal memory.

 

Power consumption

As mentioned in my first post, the N81 8GB has a 1050 BL6 battery. The same battery is used in the N82, but I’ve noticed that the N81 does a better job of retaining the battery power for a longer period of time, even with extensive use of Wi-Fi. This might be attributed to the absence of the GPS chip and the graphic chip in the N81. Whatever the cause, our music-focused handset makes its users happy with its power consumption. Usually I recharge my N82 every 36 to 48 hours, but I do the same with the N81 every 48 to 72 hours.

 

Memory and RAM

According to Handy Taskman, the N81 8GB offers 77.4MB of RAM and after a reboot I get about 38MB of free RAM. The situation here is better than the N95 Classic. Also, the N81 8GB provides a relatively minuscule amount of phone memory: 24.6MB, and I get about 16MB of free phone memory after a reboot; however, this isn’t worrisome at all given the availability of the 8GB internal memory. Just for the sake of comparison, the N82 comes with 120MB of RAM and 132MB of phone memory, respectively, but keep in mind that it doesn’t have 8GB of internal memory. Finally, it’s worth mentioning that when the N81 8GB is connected to my notebook via the USB cable and Nokia PC Suite, the computer displays two types of memory: phone memory and memory card. As the N81 8GB doesn’t have a memory card, the naming convention is a bit odd and the memory card option should have been named “mass storage”, in line with the N95 8GB.

 

What’s in a slide?

With the N81 8GB, you can perform useful tasks via the slide. If you go to Tools/Settings/General/Slide handling, you can define the behavior of the slide. You can open the slide to answer an incoming call or reject it. You may close the slide to end an active call or continue it. Also, you can have the D-pad locked or not locked upon closing the slide, and you can even set the N81 8GB to ask you if you want to activate keyguard upon closing the slide. These are nice innovations which should be part of all Nseries slider phones but currently aren’t.

 

Accessibility

If you’re visually impaired and are considering purchasing an N81 8GB, you’d be happy to know that both Nuance TALKS and MobileSpeak work well with this handset. MobileSpeak has a number of issues with the N81, and these quirks are also visible with the N82. TALKS is a bit sluggish with the N81 8GB, as it also is with E51, but this will be fixed in the upcoming TALKS release.

 

Stay tuned for more N81 8GB stuff in my future posts — I’ve preserved my judgment and concluding remarks for prospective articles.

Nokia Text Messenger Updated to V0.0.9.0

Today Nokia Beta Labs updated Nokia Text Messenger to V0.0.9.0. If you’re using this nice Vista application, I recommend that you get the latest release. This gadget allows you to send and receive SMS messages from your PC, and is compatible with Nokia PC Suite 6.85 and above.

Nokia and the Ever-changing Status of Services

I just read an interesting article about how Nokia is responding to new challenges by all sorts of innovations on BBC News, and was more than excited to share the URL with you. Before leaving my blog to read the article, did you know that every day

• Nokia sources 329 million parts,
• Builds a million phones,
• In 100 plus handset models,
• Distributes these phones in 70 different languages,
• To 150 countries, and
• Sells 18 phones per second?

For a company which was founded in 1865 and started as a wood chip factory, that’s truly astounding. Nice job, Nokia!

Google Mobile vs. Google Classic

As I want to start surfing the web, I face a strange problem. I’ve set my homepage to Google, that is, http://www.google.com. When I go to my homepage, Google displays its page using the “mobile” style because, true enough, I use the Nokia N81 or Nokia N82 to access the S60 web browser. Sadly, though, I don’t like the mobile style and, as such, select the link called “classic” to carry out my searches. I like the classic style primarily owing to the fact that it gives me more navigation options via the assistance of my S60 screen reader: Nuance TALKS. When you perform a search, for instance, Google classic displays each result in a heading and I can easily move back and forth around headings. This is totally missing in Google mobile.

Now you’re wondering what the problem is? Each time I go to Google, I get the mobile page not the classic page even after setting it to classic in a previous session. In other words, Google doesn’t remember my preference and always forces me to start with Google mobile. That wasn’t the case, but I’ve been fighting it over the past two weeks or so. Do you know any workarounds or solutions?

Nokia N81 8GB Review: Part 1 Early Expectations & Physical Aspects

Note: the links which start with “IMG” let you view relevant images. All images were taken via my friend’s N82, and my own N82 was also used for comparison purposes. Also, the only difference between the N81 and the N81 8GB is the presence of the memory card slot in the former and the use of an 8GB internal hard drive in the latter; as a consequence, whenever I don’t use “8GB” in describing the N81, it doesn’t mean that I want to attribute a certain feature to either of these handsets.

 

Early expectations

When about two weeks ago I was told by WOM World that I was going to get a Nokia N81 8GB for trialing, I wasn’t over-excited about it. After all, go ask those who have an N82 about a so-called relatively mid-tier device like the N81 8GB and you won’t see that authentic flash of passion in their eyes. The same happened to me, although I was looking forward to getting my first Nseries handset from WOM World, and that itself was more than enough to make me feel over the moon. However, when on Feb. 21st I got the N81 8GB Special Edition package, I was ready to reevaluate my prejudice. In particular, I was pleased to find the Bose Noise-Cancelling headphones included. IMG: WOM World N81 8GB package,
IMG: N81 8GB and accompanying accessories,
IMG: Bose headphones,
IMG: N81 8GB closed.

At first I was expecting to handle a super-bulky handset in my hand. After all, a 140 g cell phone isn’t small or light by many users’ standards. Fortunately I didn’t find the N81 8GB very big, or grossly bigger than my N82. The N81 8GB is slightly thicker than the N82: 17.9 mm as opposed to 17.3 mm: IMG: N81 closed and N82 side by side. Neither is it oddly bigger than Nokia 5700: IMG: N81 and Nokia 5700 side by side. On the other hand, the N81 8GB gets distinguished from the N82 when the slide opens: IMG: N81 opened and N82 side by side. As such, the N81 extra weight is mostly attributed to its internal components, and nothing disturbing gets noticed on the outside.

The N81 8GB is a phone which houses a one-way sliding mechanism unlike the N95 or the N95 8GB. It has an excellent build quality and looks like a sturdy device. It seems to me that Nokia has taken a good deal of care to produce a good sliding mechanism because the phone doesn’t wobble when the slider gets opened or closed. This is an improvement compared with the N95 Classic. Typically I hold the N81 in my right hand and work with the slider and the keys with my left hand. I was also expecting to have a hard time migrating to a slider phone, but that was accomplished quite effortlessly. As a candybar fan, I think there’s a nice feeling attached to using a candybar phone since there both the keypad and the front buttons are at the same level, whereas with sliders you should raise your fingers a little to press or hold front buttons like “select” and “key 2″. In passing, the N81 is Wi-fi-enabled but doesn’t offer an internal GPS module. It also has a 1050 BL6 battery.

 

Getting to know the N81 8GB

Now let’s take a closer look at the handset. The top of the device houses the 3.5 mm audio jack and the Power button. From left to right, you can see a new addition to the Nseries handsets, followed by the 3.5 mm audio jack and the Power button: IMG: N81 8GB top. Know what that new key is? It’s called the “keylock switch”. When moved to the right, it locks the keypad and returns to its original position. When moved to the right yet again, it unlocks the keypad. On the N81 this is the best way of locking the keys and the “Key 1+Star” option has been removed. I’m a huge fan of this mechanical approach and find it far more intuitive specially for novices. The audio jack is also in a great position to avoid wire tangles – something which tends to debase the N95. As for the Power button, I’m facing some difficulty presssing and holding it as it is a bit recessed into the phone, and a nail press is required to do the job rather than a finger press. I don’t face this problem on the N82.

The charging socket and the micro USB socket can be found at the bottom of the device: IMG: N81 8GB bottom. In line with the N82, Nokia has decided to use a micro USB port rather than a macro USB port found on the N95. Personally speaking, I find this switch a smart decision on Nokia’s part because the micro USB port is both being standardized everywhere and prevents bigger particles from penetrating the handset quite easily. But why is the N95 different in this regard? At any rate, the N81 8GB has USB 2.0 implementations like other high-end Nseries and Eseries handsets.

The left of the device accommodates the left speaker and the right side of the device houses the right speaker, the volume up/down keys and the “take photo” key: IMG: N81 8GB left,
IMG: N81 8GB right. No Gallery key can be found on the N81. As with the N95, this handset uses left and right speakers. While I’ll comment on performance-related features of the N81 8GB including the fabulous speaker performance in a later post, it’s worth mentioning here that the N81 speakers are nothing but superb.

Like the N82, the N81 uses a 2.4 QVGA display: IMG: N81 8GB display. It supports up to 16.7 million colors, and offers sharp images. The display gets separated from the outside world by means of an excellent cover which keeps dust away. The downside of this cell phone, on the whole, is that your fingerprint gets readily displayed on it and it requires constant cleaning. Near the top of the display there can be found two dedicated gaming keys which tend to make gaming a more pleasant experience on the device: IMG: N81 8GB gaming keys. So far I’ve not yet found a way to assign other functions to these keys, but such a feature might exist somewhere under the hood.

The battery door covers the back of the handset and also surrounds the 2.0MP camera lens: IMG: N81 8GB back. I’m finding the removal of the battery door a tad difficult because unlike the N82, the battery door on the N81 is longer and the device itself doesn’t offer an easily touchable battery hinge. Neither does the mediocre 2MP camera have a mechanical shutter like that of the N82 or the N95 Classic. I wish Nokia could have tossed in at least a 3.2MP camera, but that’s the subject of another post.

The N81 8GB has a keypad which is exposed to the user when the slide is open: IMG: N81 8GB keypad. As you touch the keypad for the first time, you feel as if the whole keypad were made up of four very keys representing numbers 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, and *0#. A raised dot makes identifying number “5″ easier, but that’s all about it. The keys aren’t tactilely detectable upon touching them for the first time, and you should spend some time getting familiar with the keypad. As someone who has handled handsets like Nokia 6600, Nokia 6630, N73, N82, N95, and Nokia 5700, this is the first time I see such a keypad style. What’s more, compared with the aforementioned handsets the keys on the N81 8GB need more force to be pressed down. The bottom line is that I can’t understand Nokia’s logic here, although I guess they must have listened to other users. After a few days I can use the N81 keypad without any hassles, but as I go to my N82 and return to the N81 I readjust my fingers for a few seconds.

The saga of the N81 8GB gets more complicated with its front buttons: IMG: N81 8GB front buttons. The bottom part of the front of the N81 8GB is crammed with a whole host of buttons. Here we can find 11 buttons, excluding the navigation key. On the left side and near the left edge of the phone three buttons are visible: key 1, call and menu. On the opposite side and near the right edge of the phone three keys have been positioned: key 2, exit and clear. My major gripe with the N81 is related to the way Nokia has handled this area. First, there’s no tangible distance between these two sets of three buttons, and, as such, you should learn how to press the big left-side key in order to use the menu key rather than the call key. Even now I bend over backwards to not press the call key and the menu key simultaneously. Second, you should apply a great deal of energy to press both the menu key and the clear key; as a consequence, their adjacent keys, call and exit, get pressed in at least 80% of the instances. It would have been better if Nokia had used 6 separate keys rather than 2 big ones.

The N81 is first and foremost a music-centric handset, hence it comes with dedicated music keys. These small keys surround each edge of the d-pad. The first two buttons at the top act as the previous/next song keys, and if they’re held down, they act as rewind/fast forward. The last two buttons at the bottom act as the stop and play/pause keys. I’ll talk about the music playback on the N81 in a later post. Here suffice it to say that one should spend a few days with the N81 before gaining enough competence to press these keys without getting adjacent buttons involved. Keep a few fingernails ready for them! The joystick is, on the other hand, well positioned with a solid build along with the Select key. The “multimedia” button is to the right of the joystick, also known as the navigation key, and can be tactilely identified.

Last but not least, there comes the Navi wheel near the d-pad which is supposed to help you move around in a couple of currently supported applications by just touching that area; however, so far I’ve not been able to use the Navi wheel successfully even after enabling it in Tools/Settings. It might be me or it might be the crudeness of this tool, but I’ll keep trying.

 

Physical pros and cons

Pros

• Excellent build quality,
  
• Superb speakers,
  
• Firm sliding mechanism,
  
• Mechanical keylock switch,
  
• Dedicated music keys,
  
• Nice 3.5 MM audio jack positioning,
  
• Dedicated gaming keys.
  

 

Cons:

• Undistinguishable keypad keys,
  
• Crammed front buttons,
  
• Rather stiff menu and clear keys,
  
• Lack of a mechanical camera shutter,
  
• Average camera,
  
• Non-ergonomic Navi wheel.
  

 

Over the next few days I’ll be switching to the performance and functionality side of using the N81 8GB. If you have any questions or comments about the physical appearance, I’d be glad to take them here.

How to Turn Your S60 Handset into A Professional Audio Recorder

If you’re like me, you’re most probably proud of your S60 handset as it can perform many tasks and then sit in your pocket or bag without ever getting in the way of your daily chores. With a handset like the N82 or the N95 you can take professionally-looking pictures, record high-quality videos, locate your exact position and plan a trip, use the internet and download podcasts on the go, listen to music with a lot of flavor, read ebooks and Word documents, and last but not least, make and receive calls. But do you think the same compliments are sound when it comes to audio recording on your S60 handset? No, at least if no third-party application is utilized. Nokia has done a fabulous job of manufacturing handsets which it calls “multimedia computers”, but I’m wondering why a so-called multimedia computer is incapable of doing a decent job of audio recording.

Why Nseries handsets don’t handle audio recording gracefully

The problem with Nokia’s Voice Recorder application which can be found on all S60 handsets is that unlike other media-related applications it hasn’t evolved much. That is, we are still limited to low-quality WAV or AMR for recording audio, have to tolerate annoying beeps upon recording phone calls, and on many handsets cannot move past a certain amount of time while recording. Fortunately Nokia has removed the timing limitation in newer cell phones like the N82, but for an application to meet today’s needs it should provide more.

So what can be done to improve the situation?

First and foremost, the Voice Recorder must become capable of recording in MP3 and other popular formats. As far as I can tell, the only application which does a decent job of recording in MP3 format is ALON MP3 Dictaphone, but you have to pay for it. Version 2.70 of this superb application was released few days ago and allows you to do the following:

• Disable the recording of beeps in phone calls,
• Record phone calls in MP3 format,
• Record MP3 files with a sample rate of up to 48KHZ for many handsets,
• Adjust the microphone gain before and while recording.

While I truly appreciate all these features, I don’t think people should buy such a product to complement their multimedia computer.

Furthermore, as the use of applications like Nokia Internet Radio and Real Player are rapidly growing, the Nokia Sound Recorder should allow users to capture whatever the handset plays. In other words, audio recording shouldn’t be limited to what the external microphone provides or what a telephonic conversation offers. As such, even the title Sound Recorder must be superseded by Audio Recorder to be on a par with users’ ever-changing needs. Just imagine being able to record what you’re hearing via Nokia Internet Radio.

The Possibility of professional audio recording on S60 devices

As mentioned earlier, currently ALON MP3 Dictaphone deserves to be mentioned as the only application which offers a good number of my suggested features. There are other applications which do a better job of recording audio compared with the Nokia Sound Recorder, but almost all of them lack MP3 format support. So if you are into audio recording and want to enliven your podcasts, I suggest that you give V2.70 of ALON MP3 Dictaphone a try. I’ll also review it on this blog soon. This application is so elegant that I’m already thinking of starting a podcast and recording it on my N82.

What else do you think should be included in your ideal Symbian audio recorder?

Got The N81 8GB Today

Courtesy of the WOM World guys today I received the highly anticipated N81 8GB. I’ll be starting my extensive coverage of this handset and its accessories on Sunday, because I need a couple of days to familiarize myself with it. To whet your appetite, however, you may want to take a look at the following two pictures:

WOM World N81 8GB package

N81 8GB and accessories together

The pictures were taken using my N82, which, I think, was glad to see its older brother around. As I’m not much of a photographer due to my visual impairment, I apologize for the issues you may find with the pictures. Just stay tuned for my observations.

Good News for Vista Users: Nokia Text Messenger

If you are using Windows Vista and want to be able to send and receive SMS messages via a convenient Vista gadget, you may want to take a look at the latest application developed by the Nokia Beta Labs called Nokia Text Messenger. For this little Windows application to function properly, you should have Nokia PC Suite 6.85 or later installed. It is nice to see that Nokia is moving in the direction of coupling personal computers with its handsets, and I hope the trend produces more tangible solutions.

What’s Missing in the S60 Web Browser

There’s nothing more addictive and more liberating than using the internet on cell phones. When you are in a taxi or waiting to see your dentist, you can easily surf the web and get the latest news without ever using a computer, all thanks to the S60 web browser. While I make heavy use of the web and appreciate each and every feature I utilize, there are other things which could have found their way into the web browser. Here’s my wishlist, with the hope of seeing their implementation in the future.

 

Tabbed document interface

For the sake of being a bit technical, according to Wikipedia, in the area of graphical user interfaces a tabbed document interface (TDI) is one that allows multiple documents to be contained within a single window, using tabs to navigate between them. It is an interface style most commonly associated with web browsers, web applications, text editors and preference panes.

As a Mozilla Firefox user the first issue I face while using the S60 web browser is its lack of support for tabbed document interface, or tabbed browsing. In my opinion, tab browsing is so important that I call it the revolution of the web. Moving back and forth among a number of previously opened pages without having to re-open each one is a huge benefit, and I hope Nokia decides to add full tabbed browsing to the S60 web browser. The following should be taken into account for this feature to be beneficial to everyone:

• Opening a link as a new tab in the background,
• Opening a link as a new tab in the foreground,
• Typing the address of a new page and opening it as a new tab,
• Creating a single “bookmark” for a number of pages which have been opened in different tabs,
• Displaying a list of open tabs.

 

Removing individual items from RSS feeds

The S60 web browser does a great job of subscribing to RSS feeds. If a page loads with one or more RSS subscription URLs, the web browser allows you to subscribe to them. Even modifying a previously created RSS subscription is as simple as a few key presses. However, as I refresh an RSS feed, I cannot remove the items I want from the refreshed list. In other words, as I refresh the list and open one of the news items, I cannot delete it later on. If this were allowed, I could remove the items which I don’t want to read or the items which have been opened so as to handle the clutter. Please, Nokia, add this little capability to an already amazing feature.

 

Visited links

This might sound pretty basic, but I’ve never been able to distinguish between visited and unvisited links in the S60 web browser. I can’t understand why this feature hasn’t been implemented in the browser if there doesn’t exist an impediment or a technical limitation. At any rate, I’d sincerely thank Nokia engineers if they allow me to see visited links one day.

 

What else do you think should be added to the S60 web browser? Are you happy with the current state of affairs when it comes to web browsing on your Symbian handset?

N78: The Ideal Handset for Audiophiles

It’s now a few days after Nokia’s announcement of the upcoming release of a few handsets, namely the N78, and we’re seeing more handset specs on the web. Many people are of the belief that the N78 is at best the successor to the N73 and that Nokia doesn’t want to manufacture a direct N82 competitor. However, I don’t think that’s the case. Why, you might ask. Read on . . . .

 

What makes the N78 a unique cell phone

This handset has a number of features which make it unique among all Nseries devices.

Battery capacity

The N78 offers a 1200mAh BL-6F battery, and this is impressive by the standards Nokia has implemented in the Nseries cell phones. Currently the N95 8GB has such a battery, and even the N82 has a 1050 one, and N95 a 950 battery. Even the much talked-about N96 would have a 950 battery. This means that Nokia wants to set aside all battery-related concerns with the N78. It is worth mentioning that I don’t want to bring the Eseries handsets into my comparison because the story becomes different with something like the E90 Communicator. The bottom line is that the N78 would prove to be one of the best handsets in the arena of battery capacity.

 

Dimensions and weight

The N78 is the lightest Nseries handset, I dare say. Just look at the following specs:

 

• Volume: 76.5 cc,
• Weight: 101.8 g,
• Length: 113 mm,
• Width: 49 mm,
• Thickness: 15.1 mm.

 

It’s just amazing to have a great battery, a GPS receiver, a 3.5 mm audio jack, WLAN and HSDPA access inside a 101.8 g handset. No compromises have been made to produce such a relatively light cell phone which should feel comfortable in one’s hand. Kudos to Nokia.

Furthermore, this great package comes in a candybar style which makes it capable of withstanding a lot of wear and tear. I’ve always been an avid lover of candybars as opposed to sliders.

 

Audio features

This is, I believe, the area in which the N78 truly beats other Nseries handsets. First and foremost, it offers up to 24 hours of audio playback. Coming from the world of 9 to 12 hours of audio playback, I’m truly astonished. Apart from a better battery, something else must be at work here because the use of a 1050 battery as opposed to a 1200 battery cannot explain the difference between 12 and 24 playback hours. This makes music fans ultra-joyous.

Secondly, the N78 is the only S60 handset with an FM transmitter which helps with music listening in a car. If the transmitter is also capable of broadcasting other handset sounds, it would offer a huge potential for, say, listening to different programs via Nokia Internet Radio on FM.

Of course, it is yet to be seen if the N78 provides as good speakers as those of the N95 or the N81, but I think that should be the norm for an audio-centric device like the N78. In particular, I’m hoping to see something better than the N82 here.

The NaviTMwheel

Although the N81 offers this great feature, it has been tweaked for the N78 and the N96. It allows you to find desired items in big lists more quickly and efficiently. If, for instance, you are positioned in the Music Player application and want to find a particular song among 264 tracks of the “All songs” folder, the NaviTMwheel is just for you. I wish the N82 were equipped with the NaviTMwheel, but everyone knows that a wish is just a wish.

 

Concluding remarks

So far I’ve tried to demonstrate what is so special about the N78, and the list implies that Nokia has put everything in it to make it appeal to music fans. It is true that the N78 doesn’t have the coveted Xenon flash, but neither does the N96 nor does the N95 have it. It also provides a 3.2 megapixel camera and video recording capabilities with a resolution of 15 frames per second, but given the audio-centricity of the device these can be ignored for the most part. Also, the device doesn’t have dedicated music keys and a physical lens protector/shutter, but, again, these shouldn’t get in the way of actually utilizing its audio capabilities.

These speculations and built-in features have made me keen on giving the N78 with its 70MB internal memory a serious try. The N78 might not be the day-to-day companion of camera-dependent people, but does the same apply to its audio features? My answer to the second question is “no”. Do you think the N78 can find a solid position among other Nseries handsets with its “mid-tier” label and above-average audio-centricity?